1. Field
The present invention relates generally to configuring terminals to operate in a wireless network, and more particularly, to methods and apparatus for efficiently broadcasting a configuration message to terminals in a wireless data network.
2. Description of the Related Art
Wireless communication systems typically allow a large number of wireless terminals to communicate with each other via one or more hubs (also referred to as base stations or gateways) that communicate with a selected number of terminals in a geographic region. Each hub generally must broadcast a system configuration message to all terminals in its geographic area that intend to communicate over the network. The configuration message contains important system parameters that are used by the terminals to access the network. The terminals must be able to receive this configuration message in order to obtain the transmitted system parameters. Generally, the contents of the configuration message do not change very often.
Because the configuration message is targeted for all terminals in the geographic region of a particular transmitting hub, traditional systems transmit this message using the lowest data rate available, so that terminals located in poor receiving portions of the geographic region can receive enough signal energy to demodulate the message. Additionally, the configuration message may be repeatedly broadcast so that when a terminal is first powered-on, it will eventually receive the message.
Unfortunately, because conventional systems transmit the configuration message at the lowest data rate, the transmission may consume a significant portion of the available air-link resources if it is broadcasted too frequently. On the other hand, if it is broadcasted less frequently, a terminal that has just been powered-on will have to wait a longer period of time to receive and demodulate the message, which may result in a configuration delay that is inconvenient to the terminal user.
Therefore, what is needed is an efficient way to transmit a configuration message to a plurality of terminals in a wireless communication network so that all intended receiving terminals will receive enough signal energy to decode the message, while conserving air-link resources and minimizing configuration delays.